Haitao Yin

Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards? An Empirical Investigation

Renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) for electricity generation are politically popular in many U.S. states although economic analysis suggests they are not first-best policies. We present an empirical analysis of the political and economic factors that drive state governments to adopt an RPS, and the factors that lead to the inclusion of in-state requirements given the adoption of an RPS. Although advocates claim an RPS will stimulate job growth, we find that states with high unemployment rates are slower to adopt an RPS. Local environmental conditions and preferences have no significant effect on the timing of adoption. Overall, RPS adoption seems to be driven more by political ideology and private interests than by local environmental and employment benefits, raising questions as to when environmental federalism serves the public interest.

International integration: a hope for a greener China?

In recent years, an optimistic view of international economic integration countering the pollution haven hypothesis has gained momentum. It argues that international integration can benefit developing countries environments by fostering the adoption of voluntary environmental standards, such as ISO 14001 certification, coined as the trade up argument by Prakash and Potoski (2006). This paper investigates the validity of the trade up argument in the context of China. This paper finds that international trade does gear up the adoption of ISO 14001 standards in China through increasing pressures from international green customers. However, our model and case studies suggest that the adoption of ISO 14001 certification does not necessarily improve firms compliance with existing environmental regulations in China. We also find that in China, ISO 14001 certification motivates little, if any, environmental performance improvement beyond bottom-line environmental regulations. This finding suggests that we need to treat the trade up argument with caution, especially as the assertion was made that Chinese authorities also could use ISO 14001 as an alternative to regulations in consideration of limited policy enforcement capability (Conway, 1996; Christmann and Taylor, 2001). ISO 14001 is a complement to, instead of a substitute for, environmental regulations.

ISO and OHSAS certifications

Purpose – This research aims to empirically investigate the influence of stakeholders on the corporate decision of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications and how that influence differs across different certification types. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes a survey of 1,268 industrial enterprises in China, using logistic regressions to analyze corporate decision towards management standards use. Findings – The results show that stakeholder influence varies across different management standard certifications. Foreign customers and neighboring community are significant drivers for ISO 9001 certification. Foreign investors, being publicly listed, and neighboring community each demonstrate a significant impact on ISO 14001 certification. Only being publicly listed shows significant explanatory power for certifying with OHSAS 18001. Research limitations/implications – This study does not touch upon performance issues. The relationship between stakeholder pressure, certifications, an...

The Adoption of Bottom‐Up Governance in China's Homeowner Associations

Since Chinas marketization-featured housing reform, homeowner associations have played a greater role in neighbourhood governance. Using the theory of social movements and organizations, this article investigates how homeowner associations strategically reorganize themselves to achieve their goals. Our survey in Beijing suggests that about half of the homeowner associations have adopted bottom-up governance structures, which are not specified in governmental regulations. We find that such innovations are more likely to occur when a neighbourhood needs grassroots participation to deal with external grievances, especially developer-related issues, or to overcome its powerlessness due to little access to the polity. We also find that homeowner associations are more likely to adopt bottom-up structures when their leaders believe strongly in resident participation or actively engage in extra-organizational professional activities as a means to overcome infrastructure deficit.

Risk-Based Pricing and Risk-Reducing Effort: Does the Private Insurance Market Reduce Environmental Accidents?

This paper examines whether risk-based pricing promotes risk-reducing effort. Risk-based pricing is common in private insurance markets but rare in government assurance programs. We analyze accidental underground fuel tank leaks—a source of environmental damage to water supplies—over a 14-year period, using disaggregated (facility-level) data and policy variation in financing the cleanup of tank leaks over time. The data indicate that eliminating a state-level government assurance program and switching to private insurance markets to finance cleanups reduce the frequency of underground fuel tank leaks by more than 20 percent. This corresponds to more than 3,000 fuel tank release accidents forgone over 8 years in one state alone, a benefit in avoided cleanup costs exceeding

Do Environmental Regulations Cause Firms to Exit the Market? Evidence from Underground Storage Tank (UST) Regulations

400 million. These benefits arise because private insurers mitigate moral hazard by providing financial incentives for tank owners to close or replace leak-prone tanks prior to costly accidents.

A New Form of Governance or the Reunion of the Government and Business Sector? A Case Analysis of the Collaborative Natural Disaster Insurance System in the Zhejiang Province of China

This paper examines whether Underground Storage Tank (UST) regulations had uneven impacts on petroleum retail outlets, and explores the reasons why some outlets are more likely to exit the market than others under UST regulations. The analyses suggest that both the economies of scale and the liquidity constraints arguments can explain the uneven impact UST regulations had on different petroleum retail outlets. Economies of scale give large outlets a greater competitive advantage because it is more difficult for small outlets to pass on compliance costs to customers. Liquidity constraints make outlets owned by small firms more vulnerable to UST regulations because small firms do not have the financial capability to replace or upgrade equipment as required by UST technical standards. This suggests that small businesses have more difficulties competing with large businesses under environmental regulations.

Can Environmental Insurance Succeed Where Other Strategies Fail? The Case of Underground Storage Tanks: Can Environmental Insurance Succeed Where Other Strategies Fail?

ABSTRACT The purpose, structure, and outcomes of cross-sector collaborations are subject to the institutional environment from which they emerge. This article examines how institutional background could determine the nature of cross-sector collaborations through a case study of the collaborative natural disaster insurance system in the Zhejiang Province of China. Although a guiding principle of reform in China asserts that the system should be operated based on market mechanisms, we find in practice that a market for insurance is far from being established. Insurance products are primarily designed by the government and marketed through administrative mobilization instead of market channels. Business organizations take a passive role, without attempting to create new insurance products, while enjoying monopolistic benefits created by connections to the Chinese government. The emerging government and business collaboration in China may not represent a new governance form to maximize efficiency, but instead a reunion of the government and business sector after years of efforts of separating public and private powers.

Do State Renewable Portfolio Standards Promote In-State Renewable Generation?

Private risk reduction will be socially efficient only when firms are liable for all the damage that they cause. We find that environmental insurance can achieve social efficiency even when two traditional policy instruments--ex postu2002fines and risk management mandates withu2002ex anteu2002fines--do not. Inefficiency occurs withu2002ex postu2002fines, when small firms declare bankruptcy and escape their liabilities, limiting the incentives from this policy tool. Firms ignore mandates to implement efficient risk management because regulatory agencies do not have sufficient resources to monitor every firm. The evolution of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys and states underground storage tank programs suggests that mandating environmental insurance can address inefficiency due to small firms declaring bankruptcy. Comparing insurance mandates to risk management mandates, the burden on a regulator is lower if all it has to do is to confirm that the firm has insurance rather than that the firm has actually, and effectively, implemented required management practices. For underground storage tanks, we show that insurance lowered toxic releases.